Tent camping still in fashion

Tents of all colors and shapes dot this Zion National Park campground.

With all the recreation vehicles and vacation trailers seen on the road nowadays, it would seem that tents have become passť. But then you visit a place like Zion National Park campground and the answer is a definite no. Tents of all shapes and colors outnumber the metal roofs.

There must be some magic allure to having a synthetic cover overhead and a place on the ground to lay your sleeping bag or bedroll. I know there was in our family of nine. During one month in June, we spent consecutive weeks camping at Wolf Creek Pass, the Uintas at Trial Lake and two weeks on the southern shore of Bear Lake. We loved it.

We put up a main tent (leisure port) and zippered bedroom additions to it. One must be certain, however, to make a tight fit; one night at Bear Lake a skunk got inside a small opening and began making its way, picking up cracker crumbs between sleeping kids. Fortunately, none flipped an arm over on it when turning over. My wife heaved a huge sigh of relief when it went out the way it came in. In Montana, I twice had skunks skirt the edge of my tent. Again: keep them tight.

One thing camping always seemed to accomplish for our family was for the kids to learn responsibilities. One would bring the tent itself, another the pegs, another poles; then there was the camp stove, cooking pots, matches etc. In the process, every boy and girl felt important in making the outing a success for everyone else. Of course, Mom and Dad had to do what is sometimes called "shadow leadership," i. e. keep an eye out that some vital item was not left home.

Just yesterday as I wrote this, Ivins neighbors hiked to the top of Red Mountain for the night. And of course, they took tents. Backpackers into Utah's many highlands (Uintas, Boulder, Thousand Lake Mountain, Manti, LaSals, Tushars and other alpine regions) would be rather amiss without tents.

I always favored the Springbar styles, easy to set up and stay up even in a windstorm, with a rain cover that worked. No center pole to bump into or knock the whole thing down. Some had tents with no pegs, but they had to get them anchored with bags or duffel bags. I watched one empty tent blow onto a lake. Good thing a canoe was handy.

I also saw tents with the seams turned up; I helped my camping-director wife, Judene, haul out a good many soggy bedrolls. (No matter the brand or style, tent buyers should look for canvas with the seams tucked under.) One time on a Wyoming elk hunt a buddy's tent leaked so badly in a storm that we began to feel water rise beneath our ground pads up to our elbows. When we departed that camp site, the tent got left behind.

One thing new campers fail to realize is that most of the cold usually comes from the ground rather than the air. One way to combat it is to use a camp cot. They are too awkward, of course, to pack on your back but with vehicle or horse, it is not impractical. Be sure it folds tightly.

When backpacking, I tried to get a two-man tent that would weigh no more than 6-7 lbs. I took that tent hundreds of miles through alpine terrain and used it for four nights when climbing the l3,528 foot high Kings Peak in the Uinta Mountains. It lasted through rain and hail. In contrast, I once spent two difficult nights in the high country without a tent. Naturally, it rained both nights. Never again did I leave a tent behind, although one week in Wyoming's Wind River Mountains I subsisted with a lean-to. Not as good as total overhead covering.

Our deer hunting fraternity didn't consider it a proper outing without putting up a tent. Yes, it got cold. And we had to put up a card table with lantern for reading after 7 p.m. But no one complained. You just bring along all the coats and chairs.

To be honest, I also own a small vacation trailer and for years owned a truck with camper. Ideal for taking to Disneyland. If in a crowd of total strangers I like the security of locked doors. And in Yellowstone, bears can be a problem with tents. Some of the park's campgrounds don't allow them. But even when sleeping in the back of my pickup truck at Yellowstone, I take a tent to keep stoves and cooking utensils and extra clothes in. (No food items). Tents are mobile and can provide storage, even if not sleeping in them.

Note: Zion's has 127 camping units at South and 176 at Watchman facilities. There are seven primitive units at Lava Point. Contact www.nps.gov/zion for tent-only units, reservations, seasons open etc.

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Tent camping still in fashion

With all the recreation vehicles and vacation trailers seen on the road nowadays, it would seem that tents have become passť.